Targeted advertising is a type of advertising whereby advertisements are placed so as to reach a consumer based on various characteristics of a single individual consumer, such as demographics, purchase history, or observed behavior. For example, behavioral targeting uses information collected on an individual's web-browsing behavior, such as the pages visited or the searches performed, to select which advertisements to display to that particular individual. Behavioral targeting allows website owners or advertisement networks to display content more relevant to the interests of the individual viewing the web page. In another example, a contextual advertising system scans the text of a website for keywords and returns advertisements to the webpage based on what the individual consumer is viewing. For example, if the consumer is viewing a website pertaining to sports and that website uses contextual advertising, the individual consumer may see advertisements for sports-related companies, such as memorabilia dealers or ticket sellers.
Location-aware service (LAS) is an information service, accessible using mobile devices through the mobile phone network and utilizing the built-in ability of the mobile device and the mobile network to track the geographical position of the user. Examples of LAS include services to discover the nearest banking cash machine, personalized weather services, location-based games, etc.